


What if we fought in the Denny's parking lot?

by goodbyelover



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Bickering, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Genderbending, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Violence, Name Changes, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27567715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodbyelover/pseuds/goodbyelover
Summary: The thing is, Jax knows things aren’t great between her and Younjgu. She doesn’t really knowwhy, just that she and Youngju have always been like this, long before Youngju had even auditioned for the leading role in Cinderella.This being the barely contained animosity that’s burning the bridge between them.(Or: It's the spring musical and Jax and Youngju just might not make it through rehearsals.)
Relationships: Choi Youngjae/Jackson Wang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	What if we fought in the Denny's parking lot?

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: college theatre bastards au in which lead actress youngjae accidentally ends up in feud with stage manager jackie just petty theatre politics and squabbling
> 
> I really had such a blast writing this lol, behold my bastard brainchild 
> 
> Super big shoutout to Ren for being a great beta and also a really great hand-holder as I wailed through writing this ♥

The thing is, Jax knows every set like the back of her hand. She may not personally move and place the props with each scene change, but every piece, every quick-change backdrop and painstakingly painted plywood wall, is imprinted on her brain. After weeks and weeks of effort to pull things together, to replicate the vision Professor Jang had sketched for her when they’d begun choosing the spring musical and had settled on Cinderella, it’s like a second nature. She can probably walk the sets blindfolded and not knock a single decorative candle or vase from its place.

So it’s almost ironic that she realizes one of the fake staircases is out of place just a moment too late. One of the stage hands must have moved it in order to fix the electrical cord that’s taped beneath it and hadn’t quite moved it back where it belongs. It doesn’t sound like a big deal – that is, until your leading lady is wearing a gown with a full billowing skirt made with layers and layers and layers of fabric that requires careful navigation in tight spaces.

Jax isn’t sure exactly what happens, just that the staircase isn’t where it belongs and she doesn’t realize until Youngju’s trying to sweep onto stage as Cinderella enters the ball to meet Prince Charming. 

Instead of doing that, Youngju’s forward momentum is stalled so abruptly that she instead goes sprawling backwards in a tumble of chiffon and satin, landing in a heap with a high pitched squeak, with one leg poking out from a pile of fabric and crown knocked askew.

The sight is so comical that Jax can’t help the laugh that escapes her as Chris, one of the stage hands, rushes to help Youngju to her feet. “Are you okay?” Jax asks, wiping a tear of amusement from her face before coming over to help get the staircase moved back out of the way. “None of the books mention Cinderella being that clumsy, princess.”

The look Youngju gives her is murderous.

***

The thing is, Jax knows things aren’t great between her and Younjgu. She doesn’t really know _why_ , just that she and Youngju have always been like this, long before Youngju had even auditioned for the leading role in Cinderella – this being the barely contained animosity that’s burning the bridge between them.

Maybe it’s because Youngju refuses to laugh at Jax’s jokes, no matter what Jax tries when their mutual friends bring them into the same space. Everyone else will be rolling around the floor, howling, and when Jax turns to Youngju, expectant, she’s only to be met with an unimpressed eyebrow and pursed lips. Youngju’s mouth is so pretty, Jax feels a bit insulted that her antics bring such a severe shape to them.

But maybe before that, it’s because Jax once stumbles into a bathroom at a house party only to find Youngju and Jaebum with their hands down each other’s pants and tongues down each other’s throats and Jax is drunk enough that she just bursts out laughing, stumbling back out to tell Jinyoung and Mara.

“Absolutely don’t want to hear this,” Mara says, hands clamped over her ears. Whether it’s because she’s been mooning over Jaebum’s absolutely oblivious ass since forever – if Jax wasn’t so hung up on the bathroom antics, she’d maybe tease – or because Jax gets a little graphic about where exactly everyone’s hands had been placed, it’s anyone’s guess.

It doesn’t stop Youngju from exiting the bathroom, grabbing Jinyoung’s drink, and sloshing it straight in Jax’s face. “You’re such a fucking _bitch_ , Jax Wang,” she spits out.

“I was going to drink that,” Jinyoung says mildly, trapping an arm around Youngju before she can do anything else. “Come on, little bear, let's not get so worked up.”

Jax just fucking giggles, leaning over to wipe her face on Jaebum’s jacket as he exits the bathroom, flushed red. “Did Jaebum get your panties in a twist or is that all on me?” she calls out, and it’s a lame comeback at best, but Jinyoung still has to pick Youngju up off the ground when she shrieks and tries to turn back and lunge at Jax.

“Must you?” Jaebum says, even as Mara starts fussing over him – despite Jax being the one who is now covered in whiskey and chunks of ice. They watch as Jinyoung bids them all adieu and bodily carries Youngju off into the crowd. “She’s going to be mad for _ages_.”

Jax just laughs and wipes a bit more booze off on his jacket.

Alright, so maybe Jax does know why they’re like this. Maybe, maybe not. It’s never been confirmed.

***

The thing is, Jax knows that she could probably smooth things over, especially since so much time has passed since the inciting incident. It’s been months, they’re well into the thick of rehearsals by now. She’s been best friends with Namjoon long enough to know that clear communication and clear heads are how progress is made. She can practically hear him in a corner of her brain, impassioned as he tells her that she must ‘approach it with clarity so as to avoid being misconstrued.’ 

So Jax considers it, starts mulling over the situation to try and decide if being as blunt as she usually is will work or if she needs a new approach.

She considers it right up until Youngju marches onto the stage during the scene where Cinderella’s supposed to sob over her mother’s grave, points at one of the tombstones, and says “This is in the way, can we please get rid of this one? It feels too crowded while I’m trying to sing.”

“Oh,” Professor Jang says from where he’s perched in the audience seating, peering over his glasses at his lead actress. “Sure, that’s fine.”

It’s so fucking _petty._ Jax feels something ice cold slither down her spine, because it shouldn't be that big of a deal. They have to constantly modify the stages based on feedback from when they’re reviewing rehearsal footage. As stage manager, Jax knows she has to be flexible and on the tip of her toes at all times.

Jax _also_ knows that the tombstone Youngju’s pointing at is one that she painted herself, that as small of a set piece it is, it had been her favorite to build during the prep for this musical, and that Youngju absolutely had seen her working on it.

“You are such a fucking shitbag,” Jax hisses under her breath as she goes to collect the piece. 

Youngju practically preens at the insult. “Thanks so much, Wang. I appreciate it.”

Jax might strangle her with her bare hands.

***

The thing is, Jax knows that the tombstone is a stupid thing to get hung up on, and yet she can’t let it go. The resentment sits under her skin, festering with each rehearsal. Youngju doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary in the ensuing days, but something tells Jax that this is more like the calm before the storm.

It’s another rehearsal, Jax pouring over her black binder like it’s her bible, trying to make sure every cue goes off without a hitch. They’re not in dress rehearsals yet, but they’re careening that way faster than Jax feels prepared for.

“Just make sure the carriage lights turn on in time with the music,” she hisses towards one of the stage hands scurrying around her. Youngju’s in the middle of singing about impossible things with Kisun as her fairy godmother. If Jax wasn’t feeling so frazzled, so resentful, she’d maybe acknowledge how well their voices work together, how lovely Youngju is when she’s in her element. (Because despite everything, Jax still remembers the first time she heard Youngju sing, still remembers how it had felt like the call of the ocean and the glow of the moon and the warmth of a lover.)

The song swells, nearing its climax, and Youngju has to start belting out. She starts out strong, and okay, maybe Jax _can_ admit that it’s impressive.

And then, and _then,_ in a way that makes the entire backstage freeze for a moment, Youngju’s voice cracks. It’s a sharp, choking noise, coming off Kisun’s stable harmonization, and it echoes in the empty auditorium, like a mockingjay.

Jax doesn’t mean to, at least she’ll say later that she doesn’t mean to – that it’s ill-behaved especially after the dress incident, but she can’t help but burst out laughing because in that moment, Youngju went from sounding like a honeyed angel to an absolute Muppet.

Youngju whirls to face the wings, red in the face, though Jax can’t tell if it’s from anger or from embarrassment. “You know what, why don’t _you_ come sing this song.”

“What?” Jax wheezes, fanning her face because Youngju looks kind of like an angry chipmunk, bristling as she rounds on Jax. “Don’t be so dramatic, it was funny.”

“No, come on,” Youngju says, throwing her arm back to gesture at the stage. Kisun stands behind her, looking out of her element as Youngju grows more irate. “Since you want to lord every little goddamn thing over me, why don’t _you_ do it, since you think you’re so fucking good at everything, Wang.”

By now, Jax’s laughter has died and she just stares at Youngju in disbelief, spluttering out before she can keep her mouth in check. “What the hell? Get over yourself, Youngju.”

“Fuck you,” Youngju snarls, practically ripping the mic attached to her sweater and shoving it into Kisun’s hands. “Fuck you.” She storms off, and it’s not just off the stage, but Jax realizes that she’s really just leaving when the girl grabs her backpack and the coffee she’d come in with and slams out of the auditorium. 

“... What is your problem?” Jax asks, even though Youngju’s long gone at this point. 

“Uhhhh…” Kisun says, coming to hand the mic set over. “I think it might just be… you.”

***

The thing is, Jax knows that things are starting to slide out of control. Rehearsals aren’t falling apart, but it’s only because Professor Jang had interceded, chiding both of them for the altercation before things resumed.

The tension that has blanketed the entire auditorium leaves Jax a nervous wreck. She won’t go as far as accuse Youngju of trying to sabotage the production, but a part of her worries what will happen if Youngju puts genuine effort onto that front. The worry seeps into every other aspect of her life, to her classes and her sleep and her friends.

It’s how she ends up drunk on a Wednesday evening, having managed to cajole Jinyoung into joining her for a ransacking of shots that leaves her warm and uninhibited. 

“Look, I know you guys have… something going on,” Jinyoung says, wrinkling his nose as he tries to process the diatribe Jax has been on for the past ten minutes, “but Youngju wouldn’t do anything intentionally damaging.”

“You say that now!” Jax groans, faceplanting into the table. She’s usually a fun drunk, but she definitely isn’t right now.

“I _know_ she wouldn’t,” Jinyoung says firmly, catching Jax’s hand as she tries to reach for one of the remaining shots. “Maybe you’re done for the night, babes.”

“Noooo,” Jax whines, but it’s futile, because Jinyoung can drink her under the table and she’d also taken several more shots than he had. “Come on, bro, I’m dying here.”

“I think some sleep might help with that,” Jinyoung says more gently as he nudges her to her feet. It’s times like this that Jax really comes to appreciate Jinyoung, knowing that beneath his bladed tongue is a tender heart and that his actions always spoke of cherishment. “Let's get you home.”

And it’s nice, for a little while. Jax hooks arms with Jinyoung after they pay their tab. The night air is cool on her heated skin when they step outside, and a band plays on the street corner. Her cares, the worries that had clawed up her spine and latched on to her shoulders, had eased.

So the universe decided to send her a reminder.

“I swear, are you trying to ruin my life?” Youngju’s voice floats to Jax. She’s just ahead with Bambi and Yugyeom, looking as flushed and hazy as Jax feels. “Go awaaaaaaay.”

“The world doesn’t revolve around you, I was here first,” Jax retorts, speech slurring despite all her efforts.

“Come on, you’re both wasted,” Jinyoung says, with the most long suffering expression.

“You’re ruining my life,” Youngju tells Jax accusingly. 

“Me?” Jax squeaks, and she’s angry but she’s also drunk off her ass. “And what the fuck about you, Youngju? You are! A fucking! Nightmare! Ever think about that?”

Youngju stumbles closer, even as Jinyoung starts trying to put distance between them, jabbing a finger at Jax’s shoulder, though it barely has any force behind it, not like the hurricane that Youngju usually is. “All you do is make fun of me!”

“I– what– _No!_ ” Jax splutters. “I do not! You take everything so fucking seriously! It’s never been like that!”

“Oh my god, I can’t take you anywhere,” Bambi despairs from the sidelines.

“Maybe if you had a better sense of humor, it would actually be funny!” Youngju insists, still just as stubborn in spite of everything. She stumbles forward again and maybe it’s an accident or maybe she means to do it, Jax isn’t sure, but her carefully manicured nails catch on Jax’s exposed shoulder, scratching just enough that little red streaks are left with tiny pinpricks of blood. 

“I can’t fucking stand you!” Jax exclaims, and they’re both on each other in an instant. They don’t get much further than that – Jax gets one good yank in Youngju’s hair and Youngju shoves Jax into a trash can, before Yugyeom and Jinyoung are pulling them apart. Youngju looks comically tiny in Yugyeom’s grip, and while Jax would normally be a match for Jinyoung, she’s far too gone for that right now, just sort of wailing as he tugs her away from the others.

“Why do I even bother,” Jinyoung grumbles under his breath, though his grip softens once Yugyeom and Bambi round the corner with a similarly complaining Younjgu, leading Jax back down the streets towards her sorority. “Come on, let's get you home.”

He gets her into the house and bundled into bed with a goddamn sippy cup of water and painkillers for the morning.

“Tell me I’m funny,” Jax sleepily insists as he tucks her in. 

He rolls her eyes but actually kisses her forehead. “You’re fucking hilarious, Wang. Now sleep.”

Come morning, Jax will probably feel terribly embarrassed at the entire thing, but for now, she’s satisfied, allowing sleep to overtake her knowing that Youngju is simply wrong and Jax is fucking hilarious.

***

The thing is, Jax knows she really needs to figure out a solution. Because she was the older and vastly more mature person in this situation.

“Are you going to Matt’s house party?” Jaebum asks as the weekend finally approaches.

Normally Jax would answer without an ounce of hesitation – she’d be enthusiastic, effusive, fucking pumped, but this time… this time she pauses. “Is Youngju going to be there?” she asks, but she knows it’s a dumb question. If Jaebum’s going, that means the rest of the crew is going and Youngju is _definitely going_.

Jaebum frowns, his brow furrowing as he looks at Jax. “Does it matter?” he asks, and he genuinely sounds a little hurt. Jax immediately feels terrible – she and Jaebum have been friends since their freshman year and she knows Youngju means a lot to him. It isn’t fair to push her beef with Youngju on him.

“You’re right, it doesn’t,” she agrees, nudging him and giving him her best and brightest smile. “I’ll be there. Pre-game at Mara’s?”

It’s worth it for the smile he gives her in return, like a sunrise blooming on the horizon. “Sounds like a plan.”

She can put all of the petty squabbling aside for one night. If not for Jaebum and their other friends, then at least for herself.

***

The thing is, Jax knows she’s in trouble the moment she lays eyes on Youngju.

It’s not because she’s worried they’ll fight – though that’s definitely a possibility, civility had gone out the window the last time they’d been in a social setting together. It’s also not because she’s worried about disappointing Jaebum – though that is also possible.

No, it’s because Youngju has a fucking rib tattoo.

Somehow the sight staggers Jax. She knows Youngju has tattoos, she’s spotted several of them over their time spent together during rehearsals – the sparrow that’s tucked behind Youngju’s left ear, the rose on the inside of her right wrist. They’re lovely pieces, ones Jax has admired despite the person carrying them, but none of them hold a candle to the piece that spans half of Youngju’s rib cage. 

The artstyle is sharp and fragmented, like a vivid nightmare put to skin but in the most badass way possible. It’s a massive python done in all black, curled and coiled around a jagged sword that rests beneath Youngju’s left arm. The snake’s tail winds around to curve up Youngju’s spine from her lower back, while the head of the snake peeks between her breasts, tongue flicking out.

Jax can see this all in great detail because Youngju’s walked in wearing a flimsy mesh shirt and a bralette and not much else.

There’s something about the entire discovery that sends Jax off-kilter, like reality tilts sideways just by the sight of Youngju. Mara’s beside Jax, remarking on something happening off in a different corner, but Jax is on her feet before she realizes it. “I need a drink,” she blurts out, turns heel, and flees towards the kitchen, leaving Mara blinking in bewilderment in her wake.

Jax takes a shot when she gets to the kitchen and then takes another one just for good measure.

The rest of the night goes as such: Jax clutches a red cup and desperately tries to not to stare at Youngju. Youngju’s tattoo. She tries not to stare at Youngju’s tattoo. Just Youngju’s tattoo, not actually Youngju herself, why would Jax ever do that? It would be ridiculous to just, like, stare at Youngju... Right?

Right.

So Jax is definitely not staring.

In her efforts to not stare – wait, is it an effort? Jax isn’t struggling. She really isn’t. Still, she ends up ghosting to various parts of the house, clambering over drunken compatriots and weaving through the dancing masses. She takes a breather in the corner, and her eye absolutely does not trail to where Youngju’s attached to Brian’s arm, laughing brightly at whatever story he’s telling the group around them.

Jax looks away and hurriedly gulps down whatever she’d sloshed into her cup – the combination of cranberry juice and vodka isn't ideal, but it’s not the worst either. She’s going to need to take a break, drink some water – even without Jinyoung there to badger her, she knows how to drink semi-responsibly – but that goes out the window when she looks up again and Youngju’s standing right in front of her. 

Oh god, that tattoo. The python is practically winking at her and Jax is Looking™ before she tears her gaze upwards, flushing because she’s always known Youngju was kind of stacked, but has never really considered what that might look like from this angle.

“You gonna do this all night?” Youngju asks, but it’s not… it doesn't feel like what they’ve been the past month and a half. Youngju is rose-flushed, with a tiny grin tugging at her lips. Youngju’s eyes sparkle like the ridiculous disco ball that Matt had attached to the ceiling, and Jax feels vaguely winded by the entirety of her.

“Dunno what you’re talking ‘bout,” Jax says, hurriedly bringing the cup up between them to take a swig.

She’s running out of booze, but that doesn’t matter much when Yougju plucks the cup out of her hand, eyes glinting at Jax as she steals a sip. “You sure about that?” Youngju asks, and her smile grows more sly, more sure. “I think I’d take some pretty heavy damage if your eyes were lasers.”

Jax finds herself tongue-tied, stumbling over a rebuttal. “That’s… no! That’s dumb. That’s like… Super. Super? Super dumb. Why would – I’m not. Why would I be watching you?”

But she meets her undoing as her eyes betray her, straying back downard before she jerks backwards, flustered. It’s a split second, less than the time it takes for her heart to beat, but it’s enough.

Youngju’s smirking full on and she downs the rest of the Jax’s drink before she tosses the cup over her shoulder. It bounces off someone’s head, gets a yelp of protest, but all of that falls away as Youngju’s slowly steps into Jax’s space.

“You could have just asked,” Youngju says and her lips are glossy and cherry-scented and the ghost of them is pressed to Jax’s mouth. “You could have said something.”

Jax feels like she’s toeing a cliff’s edge. There’s a moment, where everything slows to a crawl, where Jax’s breath is caught in her throat. She can hit the brakes, backpedal to where things felt safe and familiar.

Instead, she hooks her fingertips in Youngju’s belt loops and freefalls.

(Youngju tastes of cherries and crime scenes and she lingers on Jax’s lips long after Jax is home and hidden beneath her covers.)

***

The thing is, Jax knows things are different now, she just can’t quantify how much. She’d been drunk, Youngju had been drunk, every other fucking person in that house had been drunk. Did that mean things had to change? Why would an inhibited Jax need to suffer the consequences of an uninhibited Jax?

It's the final dress rehearsal now. Youngju’s on stage now, silver ball gown resplendent as she’s wrapped around Yugyeom, her very own Prince Charming, the two of them waltzing like an actual fairy tale. It should be comical, the way Yugyeom towers over her, but Yugyeom’s sweet as sunshine and gentle as a dream as he guides Youngju across the stage, and Youngju…

Well, Youngju’s always been beautiful on stage. Even with Jax’s side view from the wings, she was a glittering fantasy. It’s her element, makes her glow like moonlight and magic.

It would be so much more enchanting if Jax wasn’t consumed by the memory of Youngu straddling her hips while they kissed feverishly. If the way Jax’s hands left imprints on Youngju’s plush thighs wasn’t seared into Jax’s brain with an intensity that bordered on violence.

If Jax didn’t still taste the memory of cherries on the tip of her tongue.

“Shit,” one of the stage hands hisses beside Jax. It’s Julia, looking frazzled as she tries to wrangle the multiple props threatening to spill out of her hands. “I forgot that stupid rose bush.”

“I’ll grab it,” Jax says easily, turning to duck back towards the alcove next to the costume racks where she knew the aforementioned fake rose bush resided. The rose bush was for the scene after next anyway. She had some time.

She has to shift several misplaced pumpkins before she can get to the rose bush, making a note to appropriately scold the unfortunate stagehand mucking up her law and order. 

Youngju breezes into the alcove. “Help unlace me?” 

“What?” Jax squawks, suddenly clutching to the rose bush like her life depends on it. It’s the first time they’ve spoken proper words since the party, and Jax’s brain immediately ejects as Youngju turns her back to her, carefully tucking her braided tresses over one shoulder so the lacing of her ballgown is visible. 

“I can’t reach the top of the dress,” Youngju complains, as if this was a new problem and not something they’d figured out after she’d put the dress on the very first time all those weeks ago – the same day she’d taken a tumble and Jax had burst out laughing. “Come on, I need to get into my rags.”

“Uh…” Jax says, dumbfounded. She sounds bewildered even to her own ears, gaze stuck on the nape of Youngju’s neck, like some goddamn Victorian gentleman. “Uhm. Uh.”

Pausing, Youngju twists to look over her shoulder and Jax feels the tips of her ears go red as their eyes lock. Youngju looks amused, but in a way that’s soft and gentle and without a single trace of the animosity that Jax is used to sharing with her. 

“Look,” Youngju offers, grinning crooked just for Jax. “It doesn’t have to be weird if you don’t want it to be weird, yeah?”

It feels a bit like Jax is back on that cliff’s edge, but this time she can see the bottom. There’s a promise. Something different, something _more_. Plunging down didn’t have to be scary, didn’t have to be difficult. 

“Okay,” she says finally, putting the rose bush down, closing the distance between them. Youngju turns back around, straightens her shoulders so it’s easier for Jax to tug the dress’s laces free.

The snake tattoo slowly comes into view, tantalizing in its wicked edges, and Jax allows herself to freefall one more time.


End file.
